Well, for restarting the campaign at least. I’ve been tucked away in the D&D shadows and corners of imagination, plotting & planning a rise to some victorious state or, erm, atleast something playable which will incorporate more of the world.

First, know this:

-ALL forms of magic are generically called as such, with their wielders being a ‘mage.’ This includes holy, arcane, nature, and bibbity bobity boop. It does not include such things as potions. Figure it out? If you’re the one making the pretty lights, you might just be a mage. If you’re using a piece of flint, then probably not.

-You are on a large continent with one major government housing many smaller ones. It is similar to a country and it’s states, but not. I currently do not see it factoring heavily into things.

-The continent you are on has a snowy north and a warm south. It’s a big place with many different people and things to discover.

-There’s just as much proof of the God’s in this world as there is in ‘real life.’ Believe what you will. Many religions exist.

I will be making you an interview sheet for Sunday to try and get a bit more background info. This is how I will decide your bonuses. If you don’t do it, you will not receive bonuses before our next session.

(I’m going to be making a “What your character probably should know but doesn’t because it’s custom content” for each of you individually.)

Questions of the sort I’ll be asking:

Where did you grow up? (Somewhere snowy, harsh, military, warm, etc)
Have you had formal training? (If yes, we’ll discuss where. If no, please explain who taught you)
Are your parents still alive? (Yes, No – How?, Maybe)
How much have you traveled so far in your life?

However, we didn’t and now it’s been so long that I want to dip my sticky fingers into it again, adding even more to the world as it’s known. What I want is a universe unto itself that will work with any “D&D” system. Though, I believe it could easily work with Pathfinder and others as well.

I have suspoicious this will all be too much for my current group, but we will see. The deal will just have to involve patience, and the allowance to figure things out, change, etc. Everyone is different. Different people like different things. I thrive on creativity and imagination. Others thrive on numbers and dice.

When it comes down to it, I’ve done alot of studying and alot of thinking and I just really want to run this campaign my own way. I can’t run it like Calvin because I’m not Calvin. I have my own answers to giving people more abilities in 4E and just what arguing too much with the DM will get you.

So we’re going to do a sort of new begining. You’re characters have done what they have up until now, but this isn’t just a continuation, it’s a new begining.

I’m putting a good deal of thought into what I want in 4E, and to provide the most entertainment. IF this doesn’t work, however, I will change. It has not escaped me that you guys would just like to do alot more rolling, fighting, and burnign things down. That’s OK. I can work with that sort of dungeon crawl, but we’re going to try this way first.

As I’m taking over the campaign fully, I’ll be making some changes from how Calvin ran it.

1) Confirm Fail – From now on, when any of ya’ll roll a ‘1’ on that perty little dice of yours, you’ll have to roll again to see just how deep into shame you’ll get.

2) Secondary Skills – I’m working on this one a little bit. There’s plenty of fuzzy “learned” skills that don’t fit into the normal six, and not precicley into the other skill list. Thinkin’ you’ll get some background ones to start and the ability to learn. Yes, this could mean more gold in your pockets and more fancy tricks.

3) This Blog – Everything that gets posted up in this blog may be used as character knowlage. This means posts as well as all the various pages. It’s a custom world, and I reckon the party (outside of Aaron) havent’ had their heads in the dirt all their lives.

4) Roleplay Rewards – I’m boosting this up. Doing things just to try my nerves or piss me off will loose you some points. Roleplaying within your character, character development, and creative ideas will get you points. You don’t get to know how many you have, sorry. But it will mean better rewards when the rewards come.

Once there was a young boy of 12 summers who would stand on the street corners of the capitol city playing music for money. Sometimes, he would pat on a drum, beating the ground beneath him with bare feet. Other times, the gentle notes of his flute would slither through the air of the marketplace like the scent of a flower. He had been separated from his parents by war, and used the money gained from his playing to buy food scraps from a local inn that allowed him to sleep in their stables.

One day and old woman came up to him. Her skin was far cracked with signs of age and wear. Her voice, he found, was soft and still somewhat alluring. “Hello my boy,” she cooed. The small green purse clutched in her hands looked too plump for it’s own good. “When is the last time you ate?”

“B-but a day ago, ma’am,” he stammered.

“Ah! Well then. Where are your parents?

“Th-they’re missing, ma’am.”

She grinned then, revealing several gaps where teeth one were. “I’ve got a job for you boy. And if you do it right, I’ll give you this whole purse full of money.” She opened the soft green velvet purse revealing a bounty of gold coins. Certainly, it would be enough to last him far into adulthood, or even the rest of his life if things went right.

“W-what do I have to do, ma’am?”

The old woman chuckled. “Do? Oh, a very simple task. You see, I am old and don’t get around well. My husband has been cheating on me with a younger woman. There is someone in the city who can help me find out for sure, but what I need is in the house. If I take it, my husband will know, you see?”

In fact, the child did not see. The story wasn’t the best one, and on a full belly he may have seen the old woman’s trickery. But, his stomach said it was worth a shot. Hey, it might be allot more goodly than that, right? He nodded in approval.

Oh My Gods!We would currently like to take note that the gods have long forsaken you. There are a good many religions with their churches and beliefs in a higher power in which you may join or already be a part of. There are also plenty of folks in the world who doubt the existence of these immortal beings at all, or maybe believe that if they do indeed exist out there in the cosmos, they have long since forsaken you.

The TangleIn this world, the Fey Wild does not exist. To takes it’s place we find the Tangle. A wilderness filled with nature in it’s rawest and most wild form. It’s home to small numbers of several races. For example, no one knows how the Wildkin came to be, but if you were ever searching for their kind, a good scholar would point you to that thorny dark wilderness of the Tangle.

An Act of GovernmentThe government is comprised of a large ruling city and many territories controlled by a family or elected official.

TechnologicalMegan is really wanting to have some steam somethings down the road. ‘Nuff said.

For the upcoming campaign, only a teeny bit has been mentioned about character creation. I am sure I’ve mentioned choosing things from the core books only, and preferably not anything psionic. I would also like to mention now that everything in the Eberon and other related campaign setting supplements are off limits as well. This is because the world we’ll be playing in is being built from the ground up.

The plan is to start everyone at level 3. So be thinking about what spells you might like to take.

For player comfort, there are such things as elves, orcs, humans, halflings, and other such common D&D races that we’ve all grown up and been weaned to. Your character will never have seen a diety in the flesh. Of course church groups and multiple religions will have their mark on the world, but there’s also many who believe if the gods even exist at all. We also ask you to stick at least closely to the core classes. If it’s in one of the PHP’s then it’s probably good.

Someone asked me what the enemy will be, to help him choose a character class. I’ll tell you that the deeper into the campaign and story you go, the more likely you are to hit all sorts of different creatures. It’s designed to challenge the player and the character alike. Think about the role that you would like to play and the personality of the character who’s shoes you’ll be stepping in. Were you orphaned at a young age and raised by monks or a church to be come some sort of cleric, paladin, or monk yourself? Are you a simple hayseed farm boy who’s beat on a good many scarecrows and hay bales while dreaming of adventure? These, my dears, will be some of the most important things to consider. What will be your characters drive? Nature? Flaws?

Sometimes it’s not about winning, but how you play the game.

So, to recap:

-Be prepared to start at level 3.
-Try to choose character classes and races from the core books only.
-Let Megan & Calvin know as soon as you’ve decided.
-Do some character development, and let us know that soon as well.

In close, I’d like to point out that the artwork for this post is from the Dragon Magazine #380. A fetching article on Abyssal Genasi. No, you can’t be one. You can however, if your a cheaty pants, download the issue here.

Yet another filler post, for the most part. The VNV Nation concert a while back was a BLAST. Hadn’t had my new digital camera for very long (Thank you again, Kimmy!) so was a joy to get such good shots from it. Granted over a hundred boiled down to a handful.